March Newsletter Article

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some,

but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

            Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, two months ago I shared with you in this space some observations I have been able to make as a campus pastor.  I spoke of things parents and grandparents ought to have in mind when it comes to the upbringing of their children within the church with a vision towards their children’s ongoing growth and maturation in the Christian faith.  This month I would like to follow up that article by broadening the perspective to what a congregation, as a whole, ought to have in mind when it comes to supporting and encouraging youth to take their faith seriously, continue in the Lutheran church if/when they move away from home, and grow as Christians.

            Recent surveys about the tendencies of young people to leave church (and, subsequently, the Christian faith) after high school or confirmation vary a bit over the actual percentages of those who will leave.  Just before coming to Zion and Christ The King I saw a survey that indicated 75% of confirmed youth will not be attending church by the time they are 22 years old.  A more recent survey result shared with us at a circuit pastors’ meeting a few months ago put the portion of population with no affiliation to any church by the age of 22 (average age of a college graduate) at close to 94%.  While they may not be startling figures when we consider the prevailing culture and its attitude toward the Christian faith in general, those numbers serve to remind us that we in the church are not immune to this problem.  They ought also to encourage us to seek how we can support our own youth who learn in, live in, and interact with this world every day.

            As a campus pastor, I have the privilege of meeting and working with the small portion of the student population that does not follow the trends I mentioned above; who consider their connection to Christ in His church to be the most important thing in their lives.  Why do they take their faith so seriously?  Why do they wake up on Sunday morning to come to church?  Why do they attend Bible studies, go on mission trips, and invite their friends to join them at church?  Why do they care about so much about being Lutheran, let alone Christian?  The single answer to all of these questions is that the Holy Spirit has worked in them through the Means of Grace to nurture their continued hunger to hear the Word of God and receive his gifts in the Sacraments.  This work of the Holy Spirit, however, has not taken place just anywhere – it happens in their home congregations!  What begins at baptism is nurtured through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Lutheran Pre-Schools, Lutheran Elementary and High Schools, Confirmation Instruction, and most importantly, regular exposure to the Means of Grace through preaching, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper.  A strong Lutheran identity is, I believe, the most important factor in a young college student remaining Lutheran during and beyond their college years.

            So what is a congregation to do?  First, we can thank God for the gifts he has given us in our Lutheran Pre-School, our Sunday School, our Vacation Bible School, and our CCI program – these all serve to cultivate that distinctive gift of the pure Gospel we have in the Lutheran Church through the use of carefully selected Lutheran teachers, curriculums, and materials.  Second, we can thank God that parents in our congregation have made the Christian upbringing of their children the priority in their homes and avail themselves and their families of the spiritual and educational programs and services our congregation supports.  Third, we can thank God for the campus ministry.  The Lutheran students who attend the services and other activities at the chapel are living witnesses to the esteem in which they hold the Lutheran faith, they know firsthand what it is like to be a Christian at a secular university, they are happy to help out with our own youth group, and in many cases they are also members of our congregation, either through adult confirmation, or simply having grown up at Zion and gone to CMU.  Lastly, we can give thanks for one another – the members of our congregation support all of these programs with our time, talents, and treasure, but much more than that, we are living witnesses to one another and to our children of the common faith we share.

            We certainly have much for which to give thanks to God.  I cannot overemphasize the fact that bringing up the youth of the congregation in the faith is the work of the whole congregation, and how our efforts are undermined when the whole congregation is not working together for this purpose.  It makes a great statement when pastors and parents show and tell the youth of our congregation the importance of the Christian faith and being Lutheran.  Those statements are nothing, however, compared to the strength of the witness that is given when children see the same people in church with them, Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, living out what their pastors and parents are showing and telling them.  Perhaps the best way to think about it is to think back to when you were growing up in the church.  Whom did you see as a role model in your congregation?  What did it mean for you to see them there (likely sitting in the same pew!), week in and week out?  What would it have meant if they had only been there half the time?

            There is certainly no simple solution to the challenges that face the church when it comes to raising up the youth in the faith.  We can give thanks to God for the faithful witness of our parents and those who have come before us, and we can resolve to continue to take our faith seriously as we ourselves grow and mature as Christians throughout our lives.  God grant strength and courage in the faith to all of us!

            To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, Amen.

                        Pastor Bakker